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Singletrack: Jacob Kart

"Tina's House on the Hill" from the album Life of Crime

This is a song that's been bouncing around in my head and in various bands for quite awhile now. I played a more rock-and-roll version of it in two short-lived groups called Medium Size Rabbit and 1894. This solo version always sounded best to me, and it's the one I chose for my upcoming album.

It's a pretty wild scene. Seemed like I should write a song about it.

It's pretty much a true story based on a weird experience I had during a trip to Mexico. Someone I met there suggested I visit a town called San Jose del Pacifico in Oaxaca. It's a tiny village in a cloud forest at the very top of the Sierra Madre mountain range that gets it's name from the view: you can see the Pacific Ocean miles away. There's an old woman there who's a sort of hallucinogenic shaman. Traveling kids from all over the world congregate at her house. It's a pretty wild scene. It seemed like I should write a song about it.

The arrangement is vocals, synth, acoustic guitar and electric guitar through a fuzz pedal. The synth is set so that, after the initial attack, it bounces along in a nice percussive way. The electric guitar is two tracks of solos on top of each other. I love the sound of double-tracked fuzzy guitar solos.

I recorded this song in an apartment I lived in across the street from Pulaski Park. The public pool was right there, so I had to wait 'til it closed to record or the sound of kids yelling would bleed through on the mic.

Jacob Kart is an independent musician: guitarist and songwriter, based in Chicago. He has appeared in the bands Crush Kill Destroy, Medium Size Rabbit, and Bullet Hell and has also released several solo records. His new solo album, Life Of Crime, is out later this year on Pionic Records.

On this track:Jacob Kart, Guitars, Synthesizer, Vocals

"Singletrack" is CAR's Artist Story for Chicago performers in which songwriters, bands, playwrights, actors and writers discuss the creation of a recorded work alongside audio or video clips of the performance. To submit your song for consideration, please email our researchers.